


Always a Pleasure to Serve

by LadySindrak



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Robot Feels, for now anyway, the title pretty much has nothing to do with the actual content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 15:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6121726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySindrak/pseuds/LadySindrak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>F!SS brings Curie home for the first time, and Codsworth, with a little help from some nameless dirtbag, isn't exactly excited about the new arrival. Fluff! Sort of spoilers, I think? May continue, may not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always a Pleasure to Serve

Sanctuary Hills had become a bustling community, harboring people of all shapes, sizes, and origins, and Codsworth had the immense pleasure to be an official guardian of each and every one of them. Serving humanity was a Mister Handy's one purpose, and it was Codsworth's most favorite thing to do. There was one human in particular he loved serving more than all the rest, though. His mistress, his 'Mum,' as he so adoringly called her. His first and only family left.

His current task was to patrol the subdivision, search for any wayward radroaches or pesky bloatflies out and about, looking to invade his mistress' settlement of ten people. All right, so maybe there wasn't a lot of bustling going on. In fact, there was a lot of moping and arguing and the incessant knock of hammers. But Codsworth wasn't about to let all that ruin his preprogrammed perkiness. If anyone was going to be positive for the populace's sake, it would be him. It was a responsibility he bore with pride and dedication.

Exiting one of the old homes, pale yellow in color, his audio sensors picked up the familiar creak of the front gate. Eagerly, the Mister Handy jetted down the overgrown road, all three optics focused on the petite, armored figure of his mistress plodding up the small hill toward her old residency. Behind her, another Mister Handy hovered close by, its plating a dazzling, pristine white, marred only by the fading colors of time. Practically brand new, and in much better physical shape than Codsworth; its joints didn't have that ghastly clatter his own arms produced.

He stopped short of his proverbial sprint, dread striking him like a bullet to his nuclear core; was his mistress replacing worn out, old Codsworth? Reliable, old Codsworth? The same Codsworth who'd done the dishes and vacuumed the floors and rocked young Shaun to sleep?

One of the newer settlers whose name he had neglected to file in his memory banks tutted sadly beside him, cruelly, purposely muttering so that only Codsworth could hear, "Looks like you're outta the job, ya' rusty tin can."

The Mister Handy unit physically recoiled from the man, who was giving him a rather manic, gap-toothed grin, "I-I beg your pardon?" it wasn't the insult that had struck him (after two-hundred years, he was used to all the bias some people held).

The settler harshly laughed, "Ain't it obvious? Lady's got herself a shinier piece of trash than you, now. She'll throw ya' out. Or, maybe she'll keep ya' 'round for spare parts, eh?"

Codsworth could only really stare, internally gawking. Surely this man was lying. His mistress would never, not in a million years, abandon him. Two-hundred years ago, his Mum had wished him goodbye, told him to stay safe, called him 'Honey' in her soft voice that he so admired and loved hearing before she rushed to Vault 111 with Sir and Shaun.

No, this man was delusional. He had to be.

Finding his vocal processor again, he replied, "My mistress would never leave me."

The settler's crooked smile grew, "I wouldn't be so sure. Why don't you have a look, then?"

So he did, and Codsworth felt his jet sputter.

There his mistress was, excitedly talking with the white Mister Handy, animatedly gesturing, and reaching up over its gleaming dome to place a silky, black bowler hat perfectly on its center. His bowler hat. The gift Mum had given to him to celebrate the first year anniversary of Codsworth's 'adoption.'

"Times change, ya' floatin' scrapheap."

It was well into the night. The sky was somewhat clear, a small breeze sweeping over the barren wasteland that was the Commonwealth. Normally, Codsworth would have returned to his people's home to power down until morning, but he found himself unable to even look in the general direction of the simple, dilapidated house.

He'd stated many times before that he was incapable of feeling. He was beginning to suspect he was lying to himself. A sensation had built in his core. A heavy, painful tearing sensation that made him want to drop right then and there. It would jog his innards, probably enough to permanently damage something important.

If he had to give a name to this... feeling, he would call it betrayal. He might also choose hurt, or even jealousy. He could call it all three.

He barely registered the crunch of dead foliage under combat boots.

"There you are!" that familiar, feminine voice exclaimed from behind, "Don't worry me like that, Codsy."

His Mum's tone was playful. Light. She always spoke to him with such fondness.

The robot didn't spare her a glance, "Evening, miss." he tersely, mechanically replied.

There was a short beat of silence. Codsworth fought with himself not to turn around and throw himself at her, beg her to keep him. He was still useful, he still had fight in him, he could still serve her.

"Codsy, sweetheart, is something wrong?" she asked, her voice motherly, full of concern for him.

He lost to the urge, whirling on her so suddenly she took a step back, "I don't know, miss, is there? Is there something the matter?"

Peaceably, the human woman put her hands up, sensing something was definitely not okay with her Mister Handy.

"Codsy-"

"Don't call me that!" he snapped, vocal processor buzzing sharply from the volume and strain, "Don't call me anything! It's obvious to me now that you don't need me anymore!"

Her brows furrowed, not understanding, "Codsworth, what are you talking about?"

"I saw you with that other Mister Handy! I saw how you spoke to it, how you gave it my hat! My one possession, the one gift you and Sir and young Shaun had ever given me! Trust me, miss, message received loud and clear!" his hysterics, amazingly, hadn't woken everyone in Sanctuary, but they'd certainly opened the sole survivor's eyes.

She wordlessly approached him, and he hovered back, his optical apertures narrowed in fear as regret started pooling in his core. What was she going to do? Was she going to kill him for speaking out of line? His hull thunked against a shoddy, junk wall. Cornered, his panic grew.

"I-I'm s-sorry, M-M-Mum, I didn't m-m-!"

"Shhh," was her only response as she curled her armored arms about his scuffed, rusty globe, resting her head in the gap between two jointed eye stalks. "I'm the one who should be sorry, Codsy. I should've talked to you sooner, I wish you would've come to me."

Mister Handy units were equipped with an enormous vocabulary, compiled into a veritable library of files. Out of the thousands upon millions of words Codsworth knew, he couldn't find any for the current situation.

She pulled back, gently cupping one optic, making him focus on her face, "Listen to me when I say this, Codsworth; I could never replace you. Never. The day we brought you home, I thought I'd never need you. I thought I could do everything by myself. I thought I could handle working and caring for Shaun and keeping the house in order. But you proved me wrong. I couldn't replace you, because I realized I needed you. I still need you, Codsy. And you know what? I love you, Codsworth. You're my family. You can't replace family." as if to solidify her words, she pressed a kiss to the top of the optic she held, making his jet fail for a split second.

When he finally spoke again, he sounded incredibly bashful, "Oh, Mum, I never... I didn't realize... but that other Mister Handy-"

"I meant to introduce you earlier. Curie's not replacing you, Codsworth. I'm keeping her here as our doctor until I can get a proper clinic set up."

If he could blink, or flush, he would have, "Oh, dear, I have horribly misread this entire situation, haven't I?"

His mistress laughed lightheartedly, "C'mon, you silly butler. It's late, and we've got things to do tomorrow."

"A-ah! Yes, of course, Mum! I do apologize for making you stay up so late."

"Codsworth, honey," she flashed a bright smile his way, "don't worry about it."

And he didn't.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how long it's been since I last posted a fic, but here you go.
> 
> I've only just recently gotten into Fallout because of this goofy, British dork right here. Hopefully I got his personality down all right. I imagine when you bring Curie home for the first time Cods gets all kinds of low-key jelly. In this case, he lets that shine through. A lot.
> 
> I think secretly he and Curie have a sort of rivalry going on.
> 
> I might add more to this in the form of connected one-shots, or I may just leave it as is.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading! :D


End file.
